Demetris Christofias

Demetris Christofias (29 August 1946-21 June 2019) was President of Cyprus from 28 February 2008 to 28 February 2013, succeeding Tassos Papadopoulos and preceding Nicos Anastasiades.

Biography
Demetris Christofias was born in Kato Dikomo, Cyprus in 1946, and he was involved in progressive students' organizations before joining the AKEL youth organization and being elected to its central council in 1969. Christofias went on to study in the USSR and become fluent in Russian and English, and he was elected to the party's central committee in 1982. Christofias went on to serve as general Secretary of AKEL from 1988 to 2009, and he was first elected to the House of Representatives for the first time in 1991. In 2008, he was elected President of Cyprus, making him the European Union and Cyprus' first communist head of state. He pledged to restart dialogue with the Turks of Northern Cyprus to reunify the island, and he also supported closure of the British military bases on the island. However, the country underwent a banking crisis in 2012, and his refusal to listen to his ministers led to the public placing the blame on him. He became the first Cypriot president not to seek re-election, and he died in 2019 at the age of 72.